Warehouse 13
'''Warehouse 13' is a massive, top-secret storage facility in South Dakota that houses supernatural artifacts, mysterious relics, fantastical objects, and supernatural souvenirs collected by the U.S. Government. Warehouse 13 is the 13th iteration of the Warehouse, with other iterations having existed throughout history. The current Warehouse is also known as K39ZZZ on the North American Grid, but is affectionately called "America's Attic" by the Warehouse caretaker, Arthur Nielsen. History Throughout history, the Warehouse has not had a permanent location. It moves at the whim of The Regents, presumably by magic or supernatural forces, to the geographical location of whichever empire or power is controlling the world at that time. Because the United States has been the power center of the world for the last couple hundred years, the Warehouse has been located in North America. At various times in the past, the Warehouse has been located in England, Russia, Asia, Mesopotamia, and Rome. One example of the Warehouse in the past would be the ancient Library of Alexandria.Hulu.com"Whose Warehouse Is it Anyway." Video clip. (2009) Artie believes that Warehouse 13 was built in 1898 and that it first warehouse burned down due to a lack of knowledge on how to "store stuff." While it may be true that an artifact or more may have caused the destruction of the first Warehouse 13, the 13th iteration of the Warehouse first appeared on American soil in 1914. Although little is known about previous warehouses, Mrs. Frederick implies that all of the previous Warehouses were burned down to ashes.Nevermore The current choice of location for the Warehouse may have been at least in part an attempt to contain an artifact rather than an effort to maintain the anonymity of its location.Breakdown The Current Warehouse The current version of the Warehouse, Warehouse 13, is located in an unspecified location of South Dakota. Warehouse Features The Warehouse is lit by a massive series of electrical "Shelby" light bulbs invented by Adolph Chaillet at the beginning of the 20th century.Regrets The Warehouse sports a specialized sprinkler system attached to the zip-line system used for speedy transport within the main storage area. Artifacts in the Warehouse generate a certain amount of electricity and from time to time that electricity discharges itself inside the Warehouse. These discharges, while mostly harmless, can be seen shooting through the Warehouse in random locations. When excess negative energy occurs within the main storage area, "the Warehouse does bad things."Magnetism The sprinkler system can be directed to the coordinates of the negative energy and flood the area with neutralizer. The Warehouse has a multi-tiered security system protecting it from outside attack and inside disturbance. Entrance to the warehouse is partially controlled by retinal scanners keyed to warehouse personnel. It also contains a computer-controlled alarm system. Although incredibly robust, young genius Claudia Donovan circumvented this alarm system in order to kidnap Artie Nielsen and force him to help her bring her brother, Joshua Donovan, back from a temporal loop that trapped him while he was attempting to use Rheticus' Compass. The security system can also be used by gatherers from inside in case of emergency within. Artie's Computer System likely controls a great portion of the security system in the warehouse. The alarm system includes voice notification of security problems; the voice notifications sound like Mrs. Frederick. Warehouse Personnel :For a simple, alphabetic list of personnel, see Warehouse Personnel. At present, the enigmatic Mrs. Frederick oversees all operations involving the Warehouse. Artie Nielsen serves as Warehouse caretaker and Claudia Donovan as his de facto apprentice. Agents Pete Lattimer and Myka Bering chase down reports of supernatural and paranormal activities in search of new objects to cache at the Warehouse and help control the Warehouse itself. Leena frequently visits the Warehouse, presumably to consult with Artie about various Warehouse personnel and guests staying at her bed and breakfast. Warehouse Layout The Warehouse, a massive metal and stone structure, provides storage for both artifacts and items of significance to Warehouse operations. It includes a variety of rooms, most of which exist underground, and each with different purposes. The Umbilicus The Umbilicus is a cylindrical shaped room filled with precautionary explosives, entered through the first door to the Warehouse and leads to Artie's Office. The Umbilicus controls entry to the rest of the Warehouse with a retinal scanning device. Artie's Office The first area reached after the Umbilicus to the Warehouse is Artie's office. This room houses the Warehouse's computer systems as well as the main power and the central alarm system used in cases of emergencies. Along the wall to the right and rear of the desk are two massive filing cabinets. The first wall of drawers resembles an old library card catalog. The second has yet to be identified. In one corner, a small kitchenette sits in an alcove and includes a refrigerator and coffee maker. Directly next to the kitchenette is a metal, circular staircase leading to an upper level. Warehouse Filing Room In addition to artifacts, the Warehouse contains a massive paper filing system housed in a separate room. The filing system contains details about each person who has ever worked for Warehouse 13. The paper system has yet to catch up with the advances in Warehouse technology, according to Artie. It also contains the stored quarters of all Warehouse agents who have mysteriously vanished.Burnout Warehouse Artifact Storage :For a list of specific artifacts stored in the Warehouse, see the main article, Artifacts. A coordinate grid mapping system locates each artifact stored in the Warehouse, though no clear indication is given of the rhyme or reason for the organization of the grid itself. The grid system may be indicated by large, yellow circles on the floor of the main storage area that contain letters and numbers in them. The coordinate mapping system doesn't seem to be related to the actual organization of the artifacts, however. Artifacts appear to be placed in the Warehouse based on overall balance of energies and locations added to the Warehouse computer system after placement, rather than a grid location found first and the item placed there second. Despite careful placement, artifacts in the Warehouse frequently appear to move on their ownFor example, Harry Houdini's Wallet, which appeared to fall into Myka Bering's bag for no reason. (cf. Pilot) (in theory towards anyone who is metaphysically predisposed). Regular screenings every decadePilot ensure items remain where they are recorded to have been located last. Although Warehouse personnel can walk or ride through the Warehouse to retrieve or store artifacts, in emergencies they can strap into a harness and use a zip-line system to travel to specific Warehouse coordinates in a hurry. Quarantine Area This area is protected by a very tall, locked fence with barbed wire, and beyond that, a sheet that is likely laced with Neutralizer that can be unzipped for entrance. There is a sign that reads, "Quarantine Area, MAX FIVE MINS ZONE." Given the relative lack of security, it seems much less dangerous than the Dark Vault and judging from the warning sign only houses time-release activating artifacts. Dark Vault The Dark Vault houses the most dangerous of the articles stored in the Warehouse. Artie alludes to this danger when he says "You're never going to want to see the Dark Vault."Duped A warning sign appears above the entryway of the highly secure passcode-locked door into the vault indicating that many of the artifacts in the vault are sensory activated.Breakdown Because of their level of danger, items stored in the Dark Vault are protected by separate neutralizer containment fields. Despite this, artifacts within the vault have been observed to be struggling against their neutralizer restraints. The fields are maintained with a backup system in case of failure of the main neutralizer delivery system. The vault's passcoded locks apparently failsafe to open, rather than lockdown mode, during an emergency evacuation situation. Only two artifact are known to have to been moved to this special area of the Warehouse after being originally housed in the main storage area, Lewis Carroll's Looking Glass which was moved to the Dark Vault after it imprisoned Myka and let loose a murderer who temporarily possessed Myka's physical form in the real world and the Aztec Blood stone Which was placed on a random warehouse shelf by Artie but later appears in the vault. The Bronze Sector This sector houses the most dangerous criminals and preserves them for all eternity. It cannot be found in the Manual, because there can be no written record of it, what if someone were to find the Warehouse, and read about this sector? The preserving of people to prevent their evils being loosed upon the world (while also avoiding their death, which would impose evil upon the preservationist's soul) was a process first explored in Mesopotamia around 1250 B.C. The original process was too heavy and unsuccessful to be used. Today, the process used by the Warehouse involves flash-freezing bodies using cryogenics and preserving them further by bronzing.MacPherson The Escher Vault The Vault is a massive, shifting, labyrinthine found within Warehouse 13, in which the personal effects of cryogenically bronzed individuals are kept. The elements of the Vault shift far too rapidly for any person to be able to navigate through it without some sort assistance (beit the Impercetor, or a pair of specially-designed goggles). Neutralizer Processing Center Nicknamed The Gooery by Claudia, this center is described better in chapter 197 of the Manual. It is what pumps the neutralizer through the Warehouse creating a stability fields around and throughout the warehouse. References Category:Locations